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Wednesday, January 4, 2017

Butter Pecan Pound Cake

When Christmas is over, I feel a little let down, while at the same time relieved to take down the tree and decorations and tidy up the house. With Christmas put away, everything feels clean and uncluttered, which is exactly how a new year should feel...

Although, with a baby in the house, there will always be a certain amount of clutter sitting around, and I'm learning to get used to it, since I like to keep things neat.

My husband was home with us from Christmas through New Year's, and we enjoyed so many lazy pajama days, baking, eating, relaxing, watching movies. With my husband back at work this week, Baby Boy and I are finding our daily routine again, and I feel so fortunate that he's sleeping through the night so well. He is such a good, happy baby, and we see more of his sweet personality every day.

I've also discovered grocery delivery! Since our baby arrived, my husband has been doing most of the grocery shopping for the last several months (I've taken the baby out on a few errands here and there, but an hour's worth of grocery shopping is still too daunting until he's a little bigger), so to help relieve my husband of the task, I had our groceries for the week delivered today. I don't know why I haven't done it before, and if I don't want to pay the delivery fee, I can still order online and go pick them up for free, which is still far easier than walking around the store with a baby to select everything. When my husband and I were first dating, grocery shopping together was one of our favorite things, picking out all sorts of foods to try and cook together, but it's just one more thing that has changed now that it's no longer just the two of us.

The week before Christmas, I made this butter pecan pound cake, and it was really one of the best pound cakes I've ever had. Moist, rich, spiced, with a sweet glaze and crunchy, salted pecans, there's nothing fussy about this cake, but it's elegant just the same, and worth making over and over again.

Cake.
Preheat the oven to 350 and grease a large bundt pan with non-stick spray. In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and both sugars for 4-5 minutes, scraping the bowl down a few times. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition, and the vanilla bean paste.

In a bowl, combine the flour, pecans, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In another bowl, combine the milk and sour cream. Add the dry ingredients to the butter/sugar mixture in three additions, alternating with the wet, starting and ending with the dry, mixing just until combined. Spoon the batter into the pan and bake until a knife comes out clean, about 45-55 minutes.

Cool the cake in the pan for 30 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool while you make the glaze.

Glaze.
In a small saucepan, cook the butter over medium low heat, swirling occasionally, until the butter is fragrant and nutty brown solids have formed. Whisk in the corn syrup, rum, vanilla and powdered sugar until smooth, and remove from the heat. Let sit at room temperature, whisking frequently, until the glaze has cooled and thickened to your preferred consistency, then pour over the cake. Before it sets, sprinkle with pecans and salt.